Life and Works of John Keats

If someone could give to the wealth of a language in as short a period as twenty-six years, the English romantic poet, John Keats did so perfectly! Born on the 31st of October 1795, Keats became one of the major weapons of the English Romantic Movement. Throughout the period that he wrote, other poets continued criticizing him. Especially his early poems like Endymion was criticized so much by Southey that the romantic poet, Shelly often attributes the deterioration of Keats’ health to such vehement criticism.

However hard the criticism is, strong men always see through and make it big. Keats was no different! In fact vivid use of imagery was something Keats influenced poets like Alfred Tennyson with. Another major contribution of Keats to English literature is the aesthetic concept of negative imagery. By negative imagery Keats means that great poets have an inherent quality within themselves by which they know that not all matters can be resolved. In fact Keats’ biographer, Walter Jackson Bate dedicated a whole book to this certain philosophical stance in his Harvard thesis.

Born in London, Keats was a normal and happy boy till his father; Thomas Keats fractured his skull and expired. This was the year 1804. Though his mother remarried, she soon moved in to live with Keats grandmother, Alice Jennings, who sowed in Keats, the initial love for literature. Through the life’s ups and lows, it was his grandmother who was always beside him. In 1814, Keats stopped being an apprentice to a surgeon and devoted more time to the study of literature at Guy’s Hospital. In 1819, he happened to visit the Isle of Wight in the spring for a week. Later during the yearlong stay at Winchester, he wrote the poems as St. Agnes Eve, Lamia and Isabella.

Keats’ grandmother expired, followed by the untimely dismissal of his brother, Tom Keats. Keats himself started showing signs of Tuberculosis during this period and moved away to Italy from London following the doctor’s advice. This also cut short Keats’ affair with Fanny Brawne. In fact, it is argued that his affair with Fanny was not really a bed of roses. All the letters from Fanny Brawne to Keats were destroyed on his death as per his orders. Even in Italy, in spite of the constant care from Severn and Dr. John Clark Keats health continued to deteriorate and he finally breathed his last on the 23rd of February 1821. As he had wanted, his tombstone was engraved with the words “Here lies one whose name was writ in water” and buried in Protestant Cemetery in Rome.

Coming from a very humble background, Keats, to publish his first collection of poems including Imitation of Spenser, befriended Leigh Hunt. Hunt was a poet himself and also an editor. He helped Keats publish his first poem in 1816 and his collection, Poems, in 1817. However, his connection with Hunt and the consequent publication of his work was not well received by the poets of the time.

However, from the spring of 1818 till he died, Keats wrote more than most poets and all these word are critically acclaimed during the time. Perhaps this high level of productivity and sensitivity can be traced back to the death of Keats’ brother, Tom and his encounter with Fanny Brown and the critical note by Southey of Endymion. During the spring and summer of the year 1819, Keats wrote highly appreciated poems as To Autumn, Ode to Melancholy, Ode to the Nightingale and Ode to Psyche.

Mansion of Many Apartments and Negative Capability are two very philosophically revolutionizing concepts that Keats brought in to life. in his letters to relatives and friends, Keats always expressed his desire to be a chameleon poet and stay away from the “egoistical sublime” as in Wordsworth’s poems.

Shelly, among the later Romantics, was indeed a close friend of Keats. In fact it is said that Shelly drowned with a collection of Keats’ poems in his hands. He had also severely criticized Southey for his strong criticism of Endymion. He perhaps was blind to Keats consumption habits- Keats in fact consumed too much of alcohol even after he was diagnosed with Tuberculosis by the doctors.

Shelly’s poem Adonais is highly influenced by Keats. This certain poem was a tribute to Keats by Shelly. Ego Dominus Tuss by William Butler Yeats is a deliberate attempt to appreciate the happiness evoked in Keats’ poetry when put against his tragic life. According to Wallace Stevens, Keats was the Secretary for Porcelain in Extracts From Addresses to Fine Academic Ideas. Byron is said to have written a parody of the Nursery rhyme “Who Killed Cock Robin?” in 1821 as a tribute to Keats. However, critics argue that this was just to hint Shelly that he was being too unduly appreciative of Keats. Oscar Wilde also was full of marvel for Keats and indeed considered him the Adonis as Shelly had mentioned. He gave him the same status as he gave Shakespeare or the Greek patrons of beauty.

Indeed Keats was a man with rare skill and an ingenious person to appreciate the forms of nature or beauty. He struggled through his short life to publish his three books and earned the due fame only after his death. His impoverished condition along with the tragic events of his life kept him from marrying the woman he loved. In fact, when he left London, they say Fanny Brown just wrote a single line in her diary mentioning his departure.

Being the oldest of Thomas Keats’s children, after his father’s death, he was turned to the head of the family overnight and had to shoulder responsibilities from just nine years of age. The demise of his mother, grandmother and finally his brother definitely took a toll on his health and literary skills. But in spite of all odds what he has given to what we call the Romantic Era of English literature is beyond imagination in this short span a life.